Lauren Crowley

Chairperson, Members of the Committee: My name is Lauren Crowley, and I am a School Nutrition Director with years of experience managing school meal programs. I am submitting this testimony to express my opposition to House Bill 703 as it is currently written. This testimony is my own, and reflects my opinions and perspective only. I wholeheartedly agree that no child should be denied a meal for any reason, including unpaid meal debt, and I am committed to ensuring every student has access to nutritious food. However, House Bill 703 proposes that all students, regardless of meal debt, continue to receive meals without any mechanism to address unpaid balances. While this approach comes from a place of compassion, it creates unintended consequences that harm school districts and the nutrition programs they rely on. When a student accrues meal debt, the school nutrition department is still required to charge for the meal served. Without a process for recovering these costs, the debt grows unchecked, placing a financial strain on the department and, ultimately, the district. These deficits can result in reduced resources for program improvements, staff wages, and meal quality. In my experience, offering an alternative meal option to students with significant meal debt has proven effective for maintaining a reasonable amount of meal debt (although, ideally that number would be $0.00). It ensures no student goes hungry while also encouraging parents to address their balances. This approach has been instrumental in reducing our district's overall meal debt and maintaining the financial sustainability of the program. What would truly help New Hampshire students, families and communities, however, is the re-implementation of universal free school meals across New Hampshire. Universal free school meals would eliminate the financial and socio-economic stigma associated with free and reduced-price meal programs. It would also prevent meal debt from rising while addressing food insecurity at its core. Universal free meals have been shown to improve test scores, attendance, and overall student wellness—outcomes that benefit not only students but also the entire school community. Other New England states have already seen tremendous success with universal free meals, demonstrating the potential for improved student outcomes and strengthened local economies. The fact that there is so little funding and no help from our state officials to resolve this issue—one that seems to have such an obvious solution—is extremely disheartening to see. I urge our Senate and House of Representatives to look closely at the benefits of universal free meals and take meaningful action to address food insecurity for New Hampshire students. Thank you for the opportunity to share my perspective. I am happy to answer any questions.